An attacker used an automatic weapon and opened fire on police in Paris' iconic Champs-Elysees shopping district Thursday night, killing one officer and seriously wounding two others before police shot and killed him.

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Early reports indicated that a second officer died but later the French Interior Ministry confirmed that only one died but two police officers were seriously wounded.

One of the wounded officers was critically injured but is improving, he said. Also wounded was a female tourist.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press that the attacker targeted officers guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station at the center of the avenue popular with tourists. She said he appeared to be acting alone.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor says that searches are under way after an attack on police guarding the Champs-Elysees shopping district in Paris.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said that investigators have verified the identity of the gunman in Thursday night's attack and are trying to determine whether he had accomplices. The identity was not released.

Police officials did say the chief suspect in Champs-Elysees attack was a 39-year-old from a suburb east of Paris.

Three police officials say at least one location in the eastern Paris suburbs was being searched early Friday.

Officials said the suspect previously was flagged as an extremist. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack.

French President Francois Hollande says he is convinced the circumstances of the Paris shooting points to terrorist act.

Police and soldiers sealed off the area, ordering tourists back into their hotels and blocking people from approaching the scene. The Paris prosecutor's office said counterterrorism investigators are involved in the probe.

The attack came three days before the first round of balloting in France's tense presidential election. Security is high preceding the vote after police said they arrested two men Tuesday in what they described as a thwarted terror attack.

In Thursday's attack, French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television that a man came out of a car and opened fire on a police vehicle. He said officers were "deliberately" targeted.

Speaking in Washington during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, U.S. President Donald Trump said the shooting in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack" and sent condolences to France.

Emergency vehicles blocked the wide avenue that cuts across central Paris between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens, normally packed with cars and tourists. Subway stations were closed off.

Security forces are more widespread in Paris since deadly Islamic extremist attacks in recent years, and France remains under a state of emergency.

French President Francois Hollande scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday night.

The incident recalled two recent attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris, one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport last month.

A witness identified only as Ines told French television station BFM that she heard a shooting and saw a man's body on the ground before police quickly evacuated the area where she works in a shop.

A French television station hosting a televised event with the 11 candidates running for president briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings.